The “B2B portal” – from distribution system to interactive platform

The B2B portal serves as an interactive exchange platform between the DFL, the clubs and the media partners. It supplies all stakeholders with tailored content.

14 April 2022 – The DFL is breaking new ground to organize an efficient exchange with its many national and international media partners and with the 36 clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. Both the information flow and the distribution of licensed content are increasingly based on digitalised and partially automated processes. The aim is to make the relevant content available to every stakeholder promptly.

The DFL’s “B2B portal” forms the basis for this. In recent years, the portal has evolved from a simple application for the broadest possible content distribution into an interactive platform. With adaptive digital rights management, it reliably supplies around 1,000 connected users per season with individual content tailored to their needs.

Constantly growing content range

The DFL is committed to enabling all media partners to exploit their acquired Bundesliga rights to the full and in line with their specific requirements. To this end, the portal is constantly enhanced, with due consideration of user feedback and in close cooperation with partners of the DFL, in particular the official technology provider Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Recently completed and imminent developments alike show how partners are receiving increasingly personalised support, and how work processes are being digitalised and standardised:

  • Implementation of AWS recommendations

    – Integration of real-time recommendations for the partners and their individual rights portfolio, based on their user behaviour and local characteristics of the content.

  • Addition of a request tool for partner-specific content

    – Drawing-up of user-specific rules (e.g., “all goals on each matchday by players from the US”) for automated highlights creation that produces content precisely geared towards the partner’s preferences and shown in real time.

    – Requests from media partners for production of specific content in the context of Media Days.

  • Digital interview platform

    – Central contact point for all interview requests from media partners and partially automated management of these requests by the DFL. Simplification and digitalisation of processes enable smooth internal and external communication and coordination.

    – The planned integration of the clubs into the platform will allow even more transparent request management and more straightforward on-site and digital production.

  • Digital production calendar

    – Tool for match-specific provision specifications for each broadcast, such as the designated commentators, the production format (HD/UHD) and more, in order to allow more efficient and effective planning for media partners.

Along with the media partners, the DFL’s digital exchange with all 36 clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 plays a key role. The “B2B portal” is intended to make the information flow easier here, too. Having already been digitalised and almost entirely automated since 2020-21, the requesting of key club information, for example the current club logos, is carried out centrally, processed automatically and then distributed to the media partners and service providers. This central function for the clubs saves their resources as well as resources within the DFL and creates a promising basis for further automation processes at this interface.